A series of pre-launch events and initiatives have been organised by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on the  MyGov platform  as run-up to the International Year of Millets 2023 to create awareness and a sense of participation in the country  around the ancient and forgotten golden grains.

The MyGov platform has becomea very important and successful medium for raising awareness through organisations of various competitions.The engagement on MyGov will play an important role in helping to make it a peoples movement. A host of competitions have already been launched, some are ongoing and many more in the future will be launched on the MyGoV platform, to capture the imagination  and creative spirit of the country.Details about the contests are available on My Gov website https://www.mygov.in/

A contest for designing a comic story, with the theme ‘India's Wealth, Millets for Health’ has been launched on 5^th September 2022, and is intended to showcase the health benefits of millets to raise awareness among the masses. The contest closes on 5^th November 2022, and has recived an encouraging response  so far.

The Millet Startup Innovation Challenge has been launched on 10^th September 2022. This initiative encourages young minds to offer technological/ business solutions to the existing problems in the millets ecosystem. This Innovation Challange will remain open till 31^st January 2023.

The Mighty Millets Quiz was recently launched  with questions were based on millets and its benefits and which solicited a huge response. with questions were based on millets and its benefits. The contest closes on 20^th October 2022, and has received 57,779 page views and 10,824 enries between 20^th – 30^th August 2022.

A competition for an audio song and documentary film on the importance of millets, is also to be lauched shortly.

The logo and slogan  contest for the  International Year of Millets 2023 has already been held and the winners will be announced shortly. The Government of India will soon  release the  Logo and Slogan to mark the momentous ocassion of the International Year of Millets 2023.

Background

The United Nations General Assembly has declared the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets. This was adopted by a United Nations Resolution for which India took the lead and was supported by over 70 nations.  This will help to create awareness throughout the world of the importance of millets, its role in  sustainable agriculture, and its benefits as a smart and super food.  India is poised to become the global hub for millets  with a production of  more than 170 lakh tonnes and producing more  than 80 % of the millets produced in Asia.Earliest evidence for these grains have been found in Indus civilization and were one of the first plants domesticated for food. It is grown in about 131 countries and is the traditional food for around60 crore people in Asia & Africa.

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